The Only Veteran in Town (1913)

• 76%
• 1913
• Charles Kent
• Charles Kent
• Adele DeGarde
• Robert Gaillard

More interested in automobiling than in anything else, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold are inclined to be neglectful of their little daughter, Dora, and are almost entirely unmindful of her grandfather, James Arnold, a one-armed G. A. R. veteran living with them. Dora makes up as well as she can to her grandfather for his loneliness and the two spend the greater part of their time together. On Decoration Day, Dora's parents want her to go with them to see the parade, but as they do not wish to take her granddad with them, she refuses to go and stays at home with him. After a while she coaxes the old gentleman with her into a field of daisies, where .she wreathes a crown of flowers and places it on his head. Seated thus in state, he is found by a delegation of citizens, who, having learned that he is a war veteran, bring a message that the town desires to honor him. Taking the old man, who will not be separated from his granddaughter, to a gaily decorated automobile, they conduct him to the grandstand in town, where a dais has been prepared for him. All along the route the old veteran is greeted with rousing cheers, and on arriving at the stand he is asked to speak. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold see the passing of the decorated automobile and the honors paid to the veteran by the townspeople and are filled with remorse at the manner in which they have treated him in the past. They make the best amends possible and the whole party returns happily homeward to finish the celebration of the day in his honor.